Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Wildlife

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For such an arid area – average rainfall measures around 200mm per annum – the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is home to an astonishing variety of wildlife. Apart from a wide variety of desert-adapted plants and invertebrates, the Park’s lists boast 62 kinds of mammals, 274 species of bird (of which 78 are resident throughout the year), 48 sorts of reptiles (including 17 snake species) and seven kinds of frogs.

There’s three kinds of plants that really are characteristic of the Kalahari. The first is the Camel Thorns – huge trees growing in the beds of the Auob and Nossob River and about which we’ll be sharing more soon. Then, there’s the Gemsbok Cucumbers and Tsamma Melons; the fruits of which are made up of around 90%+ of water and both an invaluable source of moisture to all kinds of wildlife (including some carnivores).

Camel Thorn tree
Camel Thorn tree
Gemsbok Cucumber
Tsama Melon
Tsama Melon
Tsama Melon that’s been opened and partially eaten

At the one end of the scale there’s a multitude of invertebrates and small reptiles and mammals taking up their respective positions in the food pyramid. The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park allows a glimpse into their natural cycles and behaviours uniquely adapted to their arid environs.

Armoured Ground Cricket
Bibron’s Thick-toed Gecko
Brant’s Whistling Rat
Four-Striped Grass Mouse
Camouflaged Tree Locust against a tree trunk
Ground Agama
Ground Squirrels
Karasburg Tree Skink
Meerkat Family (Suricates)
Meerkat
Puff Adder
Slender Mongoose atop a Sociable Weaver nest
Kalahari Tree Skink
Yellow Mongoose

The Kalahari might best be known for the grand variety of raptors that soar its airways, but birdwatchers will not be disappointed by the variety of other, less fearsome but equally fascinating, feathered fauna that find a home here.

African Harrier Hawk
Bateleur
Burchell’s Sandgrouse (male)
Cape Glossy Starling
Cape Turtle Dove
Crimson-breasted Shrike
Familiar Chat
Fork-tailed Drongo
Gabar Goshawk
Greater Kestrel
Groundscraper Thrush
Jackal Buzzard
Kalahari Scrub Robin
Kori Bustard
Lanner Falcon with prey
Lanner Falcon
Namaqua Dove
Namaqua Sandgrouse wetting his feathers to take water back to its chicks at the nest
Northern Black Korhaan
Ostrich male on the run
Ostrich male with his chicks
Pale Chanting Goshawk
Pygmy Falcon
Red-headed Finch pair
Rock Kestrel
Rock Martin
Scaly-feathered Finch
Common Scimitarbill
Secretary Bird
Sociable Weaver
This Sociable Weaver nest near Twee Rivieren in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park may well be one of the biggest constructions by birds on the planet!
Southern Masked Weaver
Swallow-tailed Bee-eater
Tawny Eagle
White-backed Mousebird
White-browed Sparrow-weaver
Yellow Canary (male)

The Rest Camps of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park are excellent places to look for owls, by day or night!

Pearl-spotted Owlet seen in Nossob
Southern White-faced Owl seen in Mata Mata
Verreaux’s Eagle Owl seen at Twee Rivieren

Predators, both large and small, abound in the Kalahari. Africa’s three species of big cat are often seen (though the leopard eluded us when we visited in June 2018), and is one of the main reasons people undertake the long journey to visit here.

African Wild Cat
Bat-eared Fox
Black-backed Jackal
Black-backed Jackal
Black-backed Jackal eating from the carcass of a Spotted Hyena
Brown Hyena and Black-backed Jackals on a carcass
Brown Hyena
Cheetah on a distant dune
Lion on a dune in the Kgalagadi
Lion watched by wildebeest
Lioness at Nossob’s fence
Lion close-up
Lioness peaking over a ridge
Lions at sunrise
Kalahari lioness
Kalahari lioness
Kalahari Lioness
Well camouflaged Lion pride
Lion pacing the Nossob

The Gemsbok is so iconic of the Kalahari that both parks that today make up the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Botswana’s Gemsbok National Park and South Africa’s Kalahari Gemsbok National Park) was named after it. These beautiful animals are of the most commonly encountered large mammals in the Park.

Gemsbok
Gemsbok
Gemsbok herd
Gemsbok drinking
Gemsbok

And while there may not be as great diversity among the large herbivores in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park as in some of Africa’s other great conservation areas, the antelope, giraffe and warthogs occur in such numbers that it belies the harshness of their environment.

Blue wildebeest
Large concentration of blue wildebeest at Langklaas waterhole
Giraffes
Giraffes
Giraffe
Kudu herd atop a dune
Kudu Bull
Red Hartebeest
Red Hartebeest
Red Hartebeest
Springbok and Red Hartebeest fleeing
Springbok Rams
Springbok Ram
Springbok showing off
Springbok herd
Steenbok
Warthogs near Grootkolk

We’ll dedicate the next few posts on our blog to discover some of the Kalahari’s residents in more detail.

 

47 thoughts on “Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Wildlife”

  3. naturebackin

    An evocative collection of lovely pics and so nice that you include some of the tinier forms of life too. Your posts are inspiring us to consider planning another trip despite the long journey to get there. So, thank you!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Thanks, Carol – inspiring people to appreciate and visit our wild places really is what our blog is all about! And eventhough it’s such a long trip to get there, I found driving through places and scenery we don’t often get to see very enjoyable – of course for you it is several hours more to drive than for us to reach Twee Rivieren.

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  9. Reflections of an Untidy Mind

    Beautiful photos, Dries. Such a diversity of plants and animals. Sorry, but I have dumb question. Is it winter time there? I’m assuming it is because the light is so soft. What happens to the big herbivores and predators in Summer? Is there a permanent water source? Regards. Tracy.

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Thanks very much, Tracy, and you are spot-on about it being mid-winter here in South Africa now.
      There are dozens of windpumps and boreholes spread through the Park providing water to the animals and birds, but most of the animals in the Kgalagadi are actually perfectly adapted to living without regular access to water – after all they flourished here long before humans arrived and sunk the boreholes. In fact, most of the animals only visit the waterholes to access the salts crystalizing at the water’s edge!
      Summer is our main rainy season, also in the Kalahari, and then the landscape quickly transforms into a lush green, with rainwater filling puddles and pans in the riverbeds and dunes – then the living is easy for the Kalahari’s animals and most of the herbivores have their young. And of course where there’s so much prey animals the predators will never be far behind.

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Ek sou so graag saam julle “regulars” wou gaan dat jy al jul geheime en spesiale plekke met ons kan deel, Dina. Dis darem so n spesiale plek.
      Wyl ons daar was was daar n enorme verskil tussen die dag en nag temperature (soos net die woestyn kan opdis) – snags bibberend koud en bedags warm genoeg dat die slange, soos die pofadder, aan die rondseil was. Ons het met tye regtig uitgesweet want ons het net gepak vir die winter. En dan weer het ons met n vorige besoek in n Desember-vakansie ook behoorlik verkluim een nag met n sterk suide wind daar by Nossob. Sal ons leer om maar ietsie van als in te pak volgende keer.

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      1. perdebytjie

        Mens weet nooit wat die weer gaan doen nie. Ons het al in die winter ook bedags amper verkluim. Die geheime plekke is maar net die boskampies en dan is dit maar geluk by die watergate. Ons hou die patrone van die diere dop en sorg dan dat ons met regte lig ons reg parkeer, voordat die ander mense opdaag.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Thanks very much, P J B.
      I worked on this and the previous post at the same time, preparing the photos and deciding in which gallery they should go, the research and the writing. All in all it took me about 4 days or so in between work and other commitments to finish them – I can’t believe that in 2 days from now it is already a month since we left home for Augrabies and the Kgalagadi!

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  13. Anne

    You’ve just about covered everything. Unless one has been there, one wouldn’t be able to appreciate the space … the silence … the arid beauty … and the sense of wonder that all these creatures you have shown here survive in that environment. This is a wonderful look at an amazing place!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Thanks for the high praise and kind comment, Anne. Though your mentioning of the wide open spaces and the silence and all the Kalahari’s other special attributes has me very irritated with my little office now… 😀

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